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| Canada tightens hospital procedures |
| CCTV.COM 2003-04-22 14:04:49 |
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Health authorities in Canada are dealing with the biggest outbreak of SARS outside Asia. They have tightened hospital procedures after two health care workers may have exposed the general public to the illness.
A health－care worker, who had been advised to stay home in voluntary quarantine because of possible SARS symptoms, attended a funeral, putting hundreds of people at risk.
Now health officials must try to alert anyone who went to the funeral home on or around that day to quarantine themselves and watch for SARS symptoms.
On Sunday, authorities announced a nurse working at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto rode a commuter train from a community west of the city despite having a fever, a SARS symptom.
Health officials have issued an advisory to anyone who rode the trains on April 14 and 15 at the same time as the nurse to contact a special phone line set up for SARS information.
The cases are the latest incidents to threaten the spread of SARS into the general population. They show that the measures taken to tighten hospital procedures are very necessary.
Dr. Robert Parker of Fraser Health Authority said, "We have 38 health－care workers who are on work exclusion, for their contacts also. The nurse is the suspect case, and doing well at home on isolation； as for those 38 health－care workers, we're monitoring daily for symptoms."
Canada lists more than 300 probable and suspected cases of SARS by April 20. Toronto is the epicenter of Canada's SARS outbreak, with more than 250 probable or suspected cases and 14 deaths reported so far.
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Editor: Yang Feiyang CCTV.com
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